SOFTWARE SCOTLAND LIMITED

🌳Matureactive
SC142706 · ltd · incorporated 1993-02-18
Investment thesis
Well-run mature business — low negotiation leverage; premium likely.
Why interesting: Textbook target; clean filings, stable trading.
Why risky: No pressure on seller; any deal likely at full price.
Opportunity decay
approaching window · 12-months
Approaching a transaction window — refinance or sale event plausible in the next 12 months.
  • · Oldest live charge 29.7y old — refinance window within 12 months
🔒Estimated value
—
Upgrade to see
Turnover
—
year to Feb 2025
Net worth
—
book net assets
Opportunity
82/100
Exceptional
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What this business does
Primary activity: Information technology consultancy activities
Sector: Information & communication
Investor take
Pursue
Active trading company with a 66-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 82/100 (exceptional), bankability 85/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 66). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: strategic trade sale (73/100).

🏦

Refinance opportunity

1 live charge · oldest 29.7y

85/100
ready

Refinance conversation should be productive — structure clean and timing right.

  • · Oldest live charge is 29.7 years old — likely at or near maturity.
  • · Single lender — cleanest path to refinance.
  • · Legal-friction score 15/100 — clean.

Data confidence

Overall: medium (79/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

Company profile
address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date
100
Financials
2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed
75
Lenders & charges
1 charges (1/1 with lender, 1/1 with type)
90
Directors & officers
5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 3 with DOB)
82
Ownership & PSC
1 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared
90
Director network
1 connected companies via shared directors
48
Filing history
80 filings on record
85
Gazette notices
No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)
60
Opportunity Score
82/100Exceptional
PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional 

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality
70
Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.
Acquirability
80
Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.
Risk profile
85
Few red flags.
Signal strength
100
Good data coverage for analysis.

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts
Cash
—
Net Worth
—
Current Assets
—
Current Liabilities
—
£0£0£0£0£0£0Feb 2024Feb 2025

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 102
Metric2025-02-282024-02-28
Average employees3300

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

🔒Filing-note intelligence

1 signal detected in this company's narrative notes — going-concern language, audit opinion, contingent liabilities, related-party transactions.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

Recent activity

Last 30 days
0
filings
Last 90 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Last 180 days
1
filing
  • • 1 confirmation-statement
Counts from Companies House filing history.
Corporate timeline (25 events)Click to expand
  1. 2025-08-13
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  2. 2024-09-24
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  3. 2024-03-26
    📄
    cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
  4. 2024-03-26
    📄
    change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
    persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
  5. 2023-11-30
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  6. 2023-09-28
    📄
    capital-allotment-shares
    capital · SH01
  7. 2022-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
    accounts · AA
  8. 2022-08-04
    📄
    mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
    mortgage · MR04
  9. 2022-08-04
    🔓
    Charge satisfied #1
  10. 2021-11-02
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  11. 2020-12-01
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  12. 2019-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  13. 2018-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  14. 2017-11-29
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
    accounts · AA
  15. 2016-11-07
    📄
    accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-small
    accounts · AA
  16. 2016-03-05
    📄
    annual-return-company-with-made-up-date-full-list-shareholders
    annual-return · AR01
  17. 1996-09-01
    🔒
    Charge registered #1
    Lender: The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
  18. 1993-02-18
    🏢
    Company incorporated
    As SOFTWARE SCOTLAND LIMITED
  19. 1993-02-18
    ➕
    BLACK, Lisbeth, Mrs. appointed
    secretary
  20. 1993-02-18
    ➕
    BLACK, Alan, Mr. appointed
    director
  21. 1993-02-18
    ➕
    BLACK, Lisbeth, Mrs. appointed
    director
  22. 1993-02-18
    ➕
    REID, Brian appointed
    nominee-secretary
  23. 1993-02-18
    ➖
    REID, Brian resigned
    nominee-secretary
  24. 1993-02-18
    ➕
    MABBOTT, Stephen appointed
    nominee-director
  25. 1993-02-18
    ➖
    MABBOTT, Stephen resigned
    nominee-director

Owner dependency

91/100
Critical — business is the founder

The business appears inseparable from the founder. Acquisition without a serious earn-out or meaningful transition period would likely destroy value.

FACTORS
  • +Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
  • +Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 33 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
  • +Founder age: Director aged approximately 66 — succession pressure is live.
  • +Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

86/100
Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS
  • primaryFounder aged 63+: Senior director is approximately 66. Approaching typical UK retirement age — succession thinking likely.
  • secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
  • primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 33 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
  • secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 33 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.
  • supportingClean filings + long tenure: Disciplined long-tenure operator — classic lifestyle-business pattern that often sells quietly.

Red flags

clean
No red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)

Shareholders & ownership

1 active beneficial owner · dominant holder ≥75%
NameSharesVoting rightsNature of controlNotified
Mr. Alan Black
Individual · British · DOB 02/1960 · age 66
75–100%
75–100%board control75-100% shares · 75-100% voting · board control06/04/2016
1 historic (ceased) PSC
  • Mrs. Lisbeth Blackceased 27/02/2023· 25-50% shares

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

🔒Co-director network graph

Radial SVG graph showing every company connected via shared directors, colour-coded by status.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →
🔒Tailored diligence questions

7 specific questions generated from this company's actual signals — liquidity, leverage, director age, charge count, red flags, age-of-company.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →
🔒Advanced scoring suite

Exit-route ranking, improvement thesis, quiet-distress detector, covenant-pressure proxy, extraction monitor, approaching triggers, ownership drift, local cluster, value trap, debt capacity, archetype classification — 48+ scoring modules.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

Company details

Statusactive
Typeltd
Incorporated1993-02-18
Jurisdictionscotland
Primary SIC62020 — Information technology consultancy activities

Registered office

4 Millcraig Farm
Alness
Ross Shire
IV17 0YA

Filing status

Accounts
Next due: 2026-11-30
Last made up to: 2025-02-28
Confirmation statement
Next due: 2027-03-12
Last: 2026-02-26

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

BLACK, Lisbeth, Mrs.→
secretary · appointed 1993-02-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BLACK, Alan, Mr.→
director · ~66y · appointed 1993-02-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
BLACK, Lisbeth, Mrs.→
director · ~62y · appointed 1993-02-18
View their other companies + combined net worth →
Active
REID, Brian→
nominee-secretary · appointed 1993-02-18 · resigned 1993-02-18
Resigned
MABBOTT, Stephen→
nominee-director · ~76y · appointed 1993-02-18 · resigned 1993-02-18
Resigned

Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.

Mortgages & charges

1
Total charges
0
Outstanding
0
Active lenders
Status:Lender:1 of 1 shown
TypeProperties
satisfied
Lloyds Banking Group
The Governor and Company of the Bank of Scotland
Bond & floating charge1 property01/09/199604/08/2022

Recent filings (80 total)

confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2026-03-03
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2025-08-13
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2025-02-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-09-24
confirmation-statement-with-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2024-03-26
cessation-of-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC07
2024-03-26
change-to-a-person-with-significant-control
persons-with-significant-control · PSC04
2024-03-26
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2023-11-30
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2023-09-28
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2023-03-13
accounts-with-accounts-type-total-exemption-full
accounts · AA
2022-11-29
mortgage-satisfy-charge-full
mortgage · MR04
2022-08-04
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2022-03-08
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-11-02
confirmation-statement-with-no-updates
confirmation-statement · CS01
2021-03-22